Victory—U.S. Horse Slaughter Rejected by U.S. House Committee!

Horse lovers across America can celebrate a big victory. The U.S. House Appropriations Committee just approved an amendment that will prevent taxpayer dollars from being used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to inspect U.S. horse slaughter facilities. By blocking this federal funding, the House has taken its first step to ensure that horse slaughter facilities cannot legally operate on U.S. soil. We will need your help to ensure this provision gets through the whole House and the Senate, so stay tuned for upcoming advocacy alerts.

While our current Congress has prided itself on reducing government spending, last year's agriculture funding bill actually omitted this provision—opening the U.S. market to the horse slaughter industry.

"Using taxpayer dollars to fund this abhorrent industry is a wildly unpopular decision," says Nancy Perry, ASPCA Senior Vice President of Government Relations. "At a time when funding for many vital programs is being cut, it is imperative that Congress not use $5 million of taxpayers' money to fund horse slaughter, a cruel practice that benefits only foreign interests."

Take Action!Rep. Moran’s amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill protects American communities from the devastating environmental and economic impact of horse slaughter facilities, but the bill still has to pass the full House of Representatives. The House will vote on the bill on Tuesday, June 26.Please contact your U.S. representative today and urge him or her to pass the bill with the Moran Amendment intact and reject any attempts to fund horse slaughter during fiscal year 2013!